Willie Mays turned 87 on Sunday, and for a generation of baseball fans he will forever be “The Say Hey Kid.” When Mays retired after the 1973 season, his 660 home runs put him third on the all-time career list behind Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron.

Author James S. Hirsch wrote in 2010 that Mays “not only played the game as well as anyone who’s ever taken the field but he also played it the right way.”

Videos of Mays’ defensive gem in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series -- dubbed simply as “The Catch” -- shows Mays with his back to the plate, flagging down Vic Wertz’s smash to the deepest part of center field at the Polo Grounds.

With two runners on base, it prevented the Cleveland Indians from breaking a 2-2 tie, and the New York Giants would win in extra innings en route to a four-game sweep. Was it his greatest catch? “I don’t compare them,” Mays told reporters. “I catch ‘em.”

“My definition of Willie Mays walking into a room is the chandeliers shaking,” Leo Durocher wrote in his 1975 autobiography, “Nice Guys Finish Last.” “And what made him more appealing was that he didn’t know it.”

So, on Willie’s birthday, here are some appealing facts:

Loving August: In 1965, en route to a 52-homer season, Mays set a National League record for August by hitting 17 homers in one month. The record has since been tied by Sammy Sosa, who connected 17 times in August 2001.

All-Star tradition: Mays has played in a record-tying 24 All-Star Games, sharing the mark with Stan Musial and Hank Aaron.

Big awards: Mays won the National League’s Most Valuable Player Award in 1954 and 1965. His biggest honor, however, might be the Presidential Medal of Freedom he received from President Barack Obama in November 2015.

TV star: Mays was a big star whenever he appeared on “The Game of the Week” baseball telecasts, but he also appeared in some situation comedies during the 1960s. In 1964 he appeared in two episodes of “The Donna Reed Show” on ABC, and two years later he appeared in an episode of “Bewitched.” He played himself in both shows.

He was chided a bit by Redd Foxx in the 1970s sitcom, “Sanford and Son”:

Not unanimous: Mays was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility. No one has been a unanimous selection for enshrinement in Cooperstown, but Mays received 409 votes out of 432 ballots cast. New York Daily News columnist Dick Young, bashing the 23 voters who kept Mays off the ballot, wrote, "If Jesus Christ were to show up with his old baseball glove, some guys wouldn't vote for him. He dropped the cross three times, didn't he?”

It began when author Jeff Pearlman, noting that Albert Pujols’ 3,000th career hit put him in a category of four players with 3,000 hits and 600 home runs, mentioned Aaron, who topped the list.

Isbell answered Pearlman in a tweetabout the baseball Hall of Famer on Friday night when a Twitter user posted an offer, MLB.com reported.

The tweeter, James Herlitz, offered Isbell a 1971 Topps card and card No. 1 from the 1974 Topps set. Both were well-loved cards and the condition was less than pristine, but Isbell agreed to the swap, leaving a pair of tickets for his Aug. 30 show in Berkeley, California, MLB.com reported.

“You can give them to the sound guy. Red beard. Can’t miss him.” Isbell tweeted. “I’ll put you down plus one on the guest list. Have fun.”

Walker Buehler, making only the third start of his major-league career, teamed with three relievers to throw the first combined no-hitter in franchise history and the first one in Mexico as the Los Angeles Dodgers blanked the San Diego Padres 4-0 Friday night.

It was the franchise’s 23rd overall no-hitter, but the first time more than one pitcher teamed to keep a team hitless, The Los Angeles Times reported. It’s also the 12th combined no-hitter in major-league history, ESPN reported.

Buehler worked six innings, and the rookie right-hander struck out eight and walked three. Tony Cingrani worked the seventh inning, walking two, while Yimi Garcia and Adam Libertore retired the side in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.

Friday night’s gem was the second no-hitter of the 2018 season. Oakland lefty Sean Manaea tossed one against the Boston Red Sox on April 21.

When Liberatore struck out Padres outfielder Franchy Cordero to end the ninth, Buehler ran off the bench and jumped into his catcher's arms, the Times reported.

Angels slugger Albert Pujols became the 32nd major-leaguer to collect 3,000 career hits, hitting a soft single off Mike Leake in the fifth inning Friday night at Seattle’s Safeco Field.

Pujols, 38, also joined an exclusive club, becoming only the fourth player to achieve the 3,000-hit plateau while hitting 600 home runs, ESPN reported. He joins Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Alex Rodriguez.

Pujols joins Adrian Beltre as the only Dominican-born players to reach the milestone. He is also the fourth player in four seasons to connect for 3,000 hits; Rodriguez did it in 2015, followed by Ichiro Suzuki in 2016 and Beltre last season, ESPN reported.

With his 3,000th hit, Pujols tied Roberto Clemente for 31st on the all-time list, MLB.com reported. He is seventh on the all-time home run list with 620.

Pujols also joins Rod Carew as the only players to collect their 3,000th hit while playing for the Angels. He will receive a $3 million bonus for hitting the milestone, MLB.com reported.

According to ABC News, Lennox Salcedo, a 3-year-old who plays for a pony baseball league in Walnut, California, has become a viral sensation for his hilarious response to his coach's instructions "to run home as fast as he can."

White Sox manager Rick Renteria said he has kept his players advised of Farquhar’s condition but did not go into too much detail out of respect for the pitcher’s family.

“We made sure they knew that he’s still in critical condition but stable and that the best thing for us to do would be to give them space,” Renteria told the Tribune. “Let the medical staff do what they can do and then at the appropriate time, everybody will let us know when it’s OK to go ahead and reach out and go see him.”

Farquhar, 31, is at Rush University Medical Center. He passed out in the dugout during the sixth inning of Friday’s game against the Houston Astros, ESPN reported. He regained consciousness and was taken to a hospital.

The White Sox said Saturday that additional testing revealed the brain hemorrhage was caused by a ruptured aneurysm, ESPN reported.

“Besides him being a great teammate and part of this brotherhood, I have to be respectful of his family,” pitcher Carson Fulmer told the Tribune. “He’s a brother, he’s one of our teammates and we’re all here for him and his family.”

Renteria said Saturday that Farquhar "had a strong heartbeat, a good pulse and was breathing well'' when he left the stadium, ESPN reported."Nothing really matters baseball-wise when something like that happens," White Sox pitcher James Shields said. “When one of your brothers goes down, it's not very fun to watch. He's such a resilient human being. We are praying for him. We hope everything goes well.

"He's got a long way to go and he's fighting. One thing we know in this clubhouse is Farky is a fighter."

According to The Associated Press, Manaea also made history by becoming "the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter against Boston in almost exactly 25 years." The last one, thrown by Seattle pitcher Chris Bosio, happened April 22, 1993.

The bar was raised even higher Thursday night, as a ’52 Mantle in mint condition -- graded PSA 9 by Professional Sports Authenticator -- sold for $2,880,000 in an online event hosted by Heritage Auctions. That price, which includes the buyer’s premium, is the most ever paid for a post-World War II trading card and the second-highest for any trading card, Sports Collectors Daily reported.

“The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle is more than just a baseball card,” PSA President Joe Orlando said in a news release. “It is pop culture art and the symbol of the card collecting hobby itself.”

There were 21 bids cast for the Mantle card, which was part of Heritage Auctions’ Spring Sports Card Catalog Auction. The previous record for a 1952 Mantle graded PSA 9 was set in 2006, when Memory Lane Auction sold one for $282,588, PSA said in its release. The previous record for a Mantle card, regardless of grade, was a PSA 8.5 that sold in 2016 for $1.13 million.

The card that was sold Thursday night was owned by former NFL offensive lineman Evan Mathis, who played for six teams during his professional career. Wednesday night, Mathis spoke with with ESPN’s Bob Ley about the card and his love for collecting. Mathis said he sold the card to finance a new home in Tennessee, Sports Collectors Daily reported.

Mantle’s 1952 card is not the slugger’s true rookie card, but it is the first card that Topps issued. The 1951 Bowman card of the Mick is considered his rookie card, and one graded PSA 9 sold during this week’s Heritage Auctions sale for $750,000.

“The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card captures the attention of baseball fans, serious collectors, and investors alike and this auction made it one of the most valuable sports collectibles in existence,” Chris Ivy, Director of Sports Auctions at Heritage Auctions, told Sports Collectors Daily. “It’s a phenomenal price, a world record, but it’s also the natural progression of a trend we’ve seen building for years.”